Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to clause 20 of the Immigration and Asylum Bill, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed exceptional circumstances to deportation on the level of incentives for people liable to deportation to establish or maintain family relationships in the UK.

We have published an impact assessment of the Immigration and Asylum Bill. Clause 20 clarifies Parliament’s view of how Article 8 ECHR rights should be balanced with the public interest in immigration control and deportations of foreign criminals. Foreign criminals who commit serious crimes in the UK will be removed more swiftly, with the law giving greater weight to public safety and less scope for weak claims to delay deportation.